HubSpot’s free plan costs nothing for 2 users and 1,000 contacts read 2026-10-28. It covers an inquiry form, one booking link, one automated email per form and a Stripe invoice. It stops at step 3 of the test client. A HubSpot account created after September 3, 2025 can’t create quotes on Free or on Starter, and HubSpot’s e-signature runs on those quotes read 2026-10-28.
What Free includes, and the limit on each part
| Part of the job | On Free | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts and users | Yes | 1,000 contacts, 2 users read 2026-10-28 |
| Inquiry form | Yes | HubSpot branding on forms; 1 automated email per form read 2026-10-28 |
| Booking link | Yes | 1 personal meeting link, with HubSpot branding read 2026-10-28 |
| Pipeline | Yes | 1 pipeline per object type |
| Quote or proposal | No | New accounts need Revenue Hub Professional read 2026-10-28 |
| Contract e-signature | No | Signatures run on Revenue Hub quotes read 2026-10-28 |
| Invoices and card payments | Yes | Through Stripe, with a 0.75% HubSpot platform fee read 2026-10-28 |
| Email tracking | Yes | 200 notifications a month |
What it costs to get past the free plan
Starter is $20/mo (billed yearly) read 2026-10-28 per seat at its regular price, and HubSpot was showing new customers a limited-time discount when its page was read. Starter removes HubSpot’s branding, lifts the booking links to 1,000, adds 50 workflows, and turns on HubSpot Payments. It doesn’t bring back quotes.
For quotes and e-signature, a new account adds Revenue Hub Professional: $95 a month per seat at list price, with a $57 promo for new customers buying it alongside Sales Hub read 2026-10-28. For one person on Starter plus a Revenue Hub seat at list price, that is $115 a month for the full test. HoneyBook Essentials ($49/mo read 2026-10-28) and Dubsado Premier ($43.75/mo read 2026-10-28) each cover the same eight steps, booking link included, in one plan. See the pricing tracker.
| Plan | 1 seat | 3 seats | 5 seats | What this plan gates | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | not on this plan | not on this plan |
| read 2026-10-28 |
| StarterNew customers, limited time: $7/mo per seat billed yearly, or $10/mo month-to-month read 2026-10-28 | $20 | $60 | $100 |
| read 2026-10-28 |
| Professional | $90$100 monthly | $270$300 monthly | $450$500 monthly |
| read 2026-10-28 |
| Enterprise | $150 | $450 | $750 |
| read 2026-10-28 |
- Trial
- No free trial read 2026-10-28
- Add-ons
- Revenue Hub Professional (required for quotes for new users): $95/month per Revenue Seat (catalog list); promo $57/mo/seat billed annually for new Sales Hub + Revenue Hub customers read 2026-10-28
- Revenue Hub promo shown on pricing page: $57/mo/seat (was $95/mo/seat), billed annually, new customers only read 2026-10-28
- HubSpot Credits (pay-as-you-go): $0.010 per credit, invoiced in increments of 10 credits read 2026-10-28
- HubSpot Credits capacity pack: $10 per 1,000 credits per month read 2026-10-28
- Professional Onboarding (required for Pro): $1,500 one-time read 2026-10-28
- Card fees
- HubSpot Payments (US): 2.9% card processing fee; ACH 0.8% capped at $10. Using Revenue Hub tools adds a platform fee of 0.5% on HubSpot Payments (waived for the first year) or 0.75% on Stripe processing read 2026-10-28
The test client, on paper
The plan each step needs, from HubSpot’s own pages:
Juniper Lane Bakery (fictional) · Launch package: three 30-second social videos for a second shop opening · $2,400, 50% deposit
Inquiry
Dana fills in the CRM's own web form: name, email, job, budget, deadline.
Pass The lead appears in the pipeline with all five fields, with no retyping.
Plan needed Free read 2026-10-28
Reply and booking
An automatic reply goes out with a booking link. Dana books a 20-minute call.
Pass Reply sent within 5 minutes, call booked through the CRM's own scheduler, and the call shows on the lead.
Plan needed Starter read 2026-10-28
Proposal
Send the three-line proposal, $2,400, with the $150 cutdown as an optional item.
Pass Built from a saved template, and Dana can tick or untick the optional item herself.
Plan needed Separate purchase (Revenue Hub Professional) read 2026-10-28
Contract
Dana signs the contract on her phone.
Pass E-signature inside the CRM, with the signed copy saved to the lead.
Plan needed Separate purchase (Revenue Hub Professional) read 2026-10-28
Deposit
A 50% deposit invoice for $1,200 is paid by card in test mode.
Pass Invoice created from the accepted proposal, and the payment is recorded with no manual entry.
Plan needed Free read 2026-10-28
Kickoff
Turn the won deal into a project. Dana gets a link to upload footage and see the schedule.
Pass Project created from the deal without retyping. Dana gets in with no account, or one magic link.
Plan needed Not listed on the pages read
Final invoice
The remaining $1,200 is invoiced on delivery and paid by card in test mode.
Pass Sent automatically or in one click from the payment schedule.
Plan needed Free read 2026-10-28
Close-out
Mark the deal won. Dana gets a receipt. Check the month's revenue report.
Pass Deal closed at $2,400, receipt sent, and the report shows both payments.
Plan needed Needs a hands-on run
Steps 3 and 4 sit in a separate product for any account created after September 3, 2025. Steps 1, 2, 5 and 7 are on Free or Starter. The pages read don’t settle a client portal for step 6.
Where it stops
- Proposals and contracts. New accounts on Free or Sales Hub can’t create quotes, so steps 3 and 4 need another tool or a Revenue Hub seat.
- Branding. Forms, emails and the booking link carry HubSpot branding until Starter.
- Automation. One automated email per form on Free. The automatic reply in step 2 works; a follow-up sequence doesn’t.
- Contacts. The free plan caps at 1,000 contacts. A freelancer adding 20 inquiries a week reaches it in under a year.
Scorecard
| Criterion | Weight | Score /10 | Points | Measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inquiry to proposal to contract | 25% | — | — | Needs a hands-on run |
| Payments and invoicing | 20% | — | — | Needs a hands-on run |
| Price at 1, 3 and 5 seats | 20% | — | — | Needs the plan a hands-on run completes on |
| Setup time | 15% | — | — | Needs a hands-on run |
| Client experience (portal, forms, emails) | 10% | — | — | Needs a hands-on run |
| Support and docs | 10% | — | — | Needs a hands-on run |
| Overall | 100% | — | No overall score until a hands-on run measures every criterion. Nothing is estimated. | |
Should a freelancer start on HubSpot Free?
On HubSpot’s own pages: yes, if proposals and contracts go out from another tool and you stay under 2 users and 1,000 contacts. If the proposal, the signature and the deposit should happen in one place, a new HubSpot account needs Starter plus a Revenue Hub seat, $115 a month at list prices, and a client-work CRM covers the same steps in one plan for less.